Rainbow
by Ruby Silverman
Summary: An amusing secret is revealed during a friendly conversation between Sara Sidle and Jim Brass.


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, nor do I own the television show they are borrowed from.

* * *

"Hi, Jim," Sara Sidle greeted as she opened her front door. "What's up?"

Jim Brass gave a casual shrug and a little smile. "I was just in the neighborhood. Figured I'd stop in for a minute and say 'Hi'."

_Not quite the person I was hoping to see,_ Sara thought to herself. _But I guess Jim's company is better than nobody at all._

"Umm....would you like to come in for a minute?" she invited. "Get out of the heat, at least?"

"If I'm not interrupting anything important," Jim replied as he followed her inside.

Sara joked lightly, "You're only interrupting my boredom."

Jim grinned at her humor.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Sara offered hospitably. "Water? Iced tea?"

"No, I'm fine," he declined with a small wave of his hand. "Thanks anyway." His eyes innocently took in his surroundings as he sat down. "Nice apartment," he praised honestly.

Sara gave a nod. "Thanks."

"So, uh....how are things?"

She suppressed a smile. "Things are fine," she responded evenly. "I'm fine too, believe it or not." _Or at least I **will** be fine, eventually._

"Good," Jim voiced in acceptance. "That's good...."

"You weren't really 'just in the neighborhood', were you?" Sara questioned with mild skepticism.

Jim chuckled. "All right, you got me. Actually, I wanted to let you know that if you ever needed someone to confide in, I've been told I'm a pretty good listener."

Sara graced him with a genuine smile. "Thanks, Jim. I appreciate that. Really, I do."

"I wasn't always a good listener, mind you," Jim added with a small wink. "In fact, my grandma was constantly lecturing me about that when I was a little boy. I remember she'd shake her finger at me and holler 'James Sebastian Brass, you better listen when—— "

"Wait," Sara interrupted with a grin. "Your middle name is 'Sebastian'?"

Jim nodded, matching her grin with one of his own. "Pretty awful, huh?"

Sara shook her head. "It's not awful....just unusual. It's a name I'd not normally imagine you having. Anyway, I'm sorry for interrupting. Please, continue."

Jim did continue his thought, not in the least offended by her interruption. "Anyway, my grandma would say 'You better listen when people are talking, lest you lose your friends by acting uninterested in what they have to tell you.'"

"Sounds like she was a very wise person," Sara commented warmly.

"Oh, she was," Jim agreed, fondly recalling a few childhood memories of his grandmother. "I think you two probably would have gotten along pretty well...."

"You miss her," Sara spoke softly, taking note of the way his voice trailed off.

He nodded in the affirmative. "Every now and then, I do miss her. She was the one who gave me my middle name, you know. Even as silly as that name is, I can't really hate it either."

"It gives you a little bit more of a connection to her, I think," Sara stated kindly. "Plus, you have your memories."

"Yeah." Jim cleared his throat, put on another smile, and changed the conversation. "So tell me your middle name, Sara."

Sara's eyes widened at his request. "Why?" she asked in sudden suspicion.

Jim shrugged. "You know mine now. I wanna know yours."

_No way._ Sara tried a diversional tactic. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm kinda thirsty. You sure you don't want something to drink?" Without waiting for an answer, she leapt up off the couch and disappeared from the living room.

Entering the kitchen, she grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and unscrewed the top.

"You're avoiding the question," Jim accused from a distance behind her.

Sara turned to find him leaning against the kitchen doorway with a smug expression on his face. "No I'm not." She took a large gulp of liquid, suddenly wishing she had alcohol instead of water.

Jim chuckled. "Your middle name must be pretty bad too if you don't even want to tell _me_."

Sara narrowed her eyes at him. "There's nothing wrong with my middle name." _It's my **first** name that's the problem._

"Yeah? Then what is it?" Jim challenged.

Sara glared at him a moment longer before reluctantly answering, "Sara. My middle name is Sara. Satisfied?"

Jim raised an eyebrow in surprised amusement. "Your name is Sara Sara Sidle?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Jim. There's only one Sara in my name, and it's in the middle."

"Okay, so what's your _first_ name?" Jim prodded.

Sara sighed. "Rnbw," she mumbled.

Jim's brow furrowed. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

Sara spoke through clenched teeth. "Rainbow."__

He gaped at her in disbelief. _"Rainbow?" _

Sara pointed a finger at him. "You laugh, and you die."

"I'm not laughing," he denied immediately, trying his hardest to stop the obnoxious smirk that was spreading across his face. He cleared his throat, an action that was almost always successful in squelching the urge to laugh. "Ahem.....honestly, though........why 'Rainbow'?"

"I don't know. My parents were hippies," Sara replied simply. "They were probably on one of their psychedelic trips when they were choosing baby names."

"Do you have siblings with hippie names, too?" Jim couldn't help but tease her. "A sister named Sunflower, perhaps?"

"No sisters. I have an older brother, but he got a perfectly normal name: Robert Ethan," Sara answered him with just a hint of resentment in her tone. "_I _was cursed as Rainbow Sara."

"Oh, I wouldn't call it a curse," Jim rebutted lightheartedly. "In fact, I think I like it. It suits you."

Sara wrinkled her nose, but didn't argue further. In truth, she valued Jim's opinion....as both a friend and a colleague. And if he honestly liked her odd first name, she certainly could respect him for it.

But that didn't mean she'd let him have the last word.

"Yeah, whatever," Sara responded with an impish smile, sidling past him through the doorway and sitting once more on her living room couch.

The grandfather clock in the corner of the room began chiming quietly, a subtle reminder of the progressive lateness of the day.

"I guess I stayed a lot longer than a minute, huh?" Jim observed plainly, taking that as his cue to depart. "I oughta be going now, anyway....let you get back to whatever you were doing when I came."

"Thanks for coming to see me," Sara voiced sincerely as she walked him to the door. "And you'd better not be spreading any tales about my name to anyone. I wouldn't want to be responsible for your murder."

"I won't tell a soul," Jim assured her.

Sara smiled. "Thank you."

"Hey, remember what I said," Jim advised. "Any time you need someone to talk to, my door is open."

She smiled again. "I will."

Jim opened the door and stepped out. "See you later....Rainbow."

Sara scoffed as she closed her apartment door.

* * *

As she readied herself for work in front of her locker that evening, Sara was surprised to find a very small gift box on the top metal shelf.

"Who would be giving me a gift?" she murmured in wonder, turning the petite package over in her hands.

Making sure she was still alone in the locker room, she untied the ribbon, removed the lid......and rolled her eyes. "I should have known."

Nestled in a bed of crinkly tissue was a thin silver chain with a colorful yet elegant rainbow charm on it.

Sara chuckled as she lifted the delicate jewelry from its box. Though there were no tags attached anywhere, it was obvious her gift was from Jim Brass. No one else in Vegas would have known what the rainbow charm meant to her, and Sara surmised that no one else would ever know in the future either.

Touched by the gesture of Jim's friendship, and amused at the meaning behind the rainbow, Sara smiled to herself as she clasped the ends of the chain around her neck. _Maybe 'Rainbow' isn't such a bad name to have, after all,_ she thought.

* * *

- The End -


End file.
